About the Flight Status Application

FlightStats collects information from a large number of sources (governments, airlines, airports, reservation systems, and others) and presents an intuitive display of the data we compile. Registered users can explore details collected from the data sources. For more information, see an in-depth explanation below. In summary FlightStats:

Complete, accurate data is the cornerstone of our business and what sets us apart from competitive solutions:

Geographic Coverage - FlightStats provides definitive information for approximately 99.5% of U.S. flights, and better than 86% of flights worldwide.

Completeness - FlightStats queries multiple sources to create a record for each flight enabling us to offer a broader range of information (for example, gate information).

Accuracy - We have invested heavily in the areas of parsing, interpretation and error checking and developed the logic that enables handling of difficult issues such as cancellations, diversions and changing schedules.

Codeshare Support - Our codeshare logic enables us to deliver flight information for both the operating and the marketing carriers, filling what is often a major gap in coverage.

There are many factors that can affect a flight while it's in the air. Weather, air traffic control directives, congestion on the taxi-ways and more. The arrival times we publish are estimates give the best information we can get. We update that information every few minutes. We can't guarantee the accuracy of the information. But our estimates are rarely off by more than a few minutes.

Most flight tracking applications use a single source of data - the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Aircraft Situation Display to Industry (ASDI) data feed. The ASDI data feed tracks flights primarily within United States controlled airspace and contains information for flights guided by US air traffic control.

Before taking off - pilots file a flight plan with air traffic control that contains information such as:

the expected departure time

route

estimated arrival time

Once the flight departs, the FAA publishes information about the position, altitude and speed of the flight as well as estimates on arrival times. For security reasons the information published on the ASDI feed is delayed for 5 minutes. FlightStats supplements FAA data with data from other sources including airport and airline data feeds to give you both runway and gate times whenever possible.

That's not a problem. You can get a list of all flights arriving at a given airport by selecting the "By Airport" tab. Or you can see a list of all flights on a given route by selecting "By Route". You can usually determine which flight you should track from the route and timing information.

FlightStats can help you find the right flight to track even if it's a codeshare. A codeshare is essentially a marketing agreement between two airlines. A flight operated by carrier A is marketed under a different flight number by carrier B. For example, Lufthansa 9355 is operated by (UA) United Airlines and is sold by United as UA 938. The only information that comes across the ASDI stream is the information for the operating carrier's flight number (for example UA 938). Some flight tracker tools require the user to know the operating carrier's flight number. FlightStats does the mapping so that the codeshare flight number can be used instead.

Yes. All you need to know the airline and the departure or arrival cities to zero in on the precise geographic position and estimated arrival time of a flight. The new flight tracker combines the power of Google™ Maps with FlightStats up-to-the minute flight data to show you the exact location of the flight over a standard, satellite or hybrid map of North America or Europe. And our airport trackers show the current location of all flights in the vicinity of a specified airport. Please note that the location data is delayed by five minutes for the safety and security of the flight and its passengers.

To be useful to travellers and family members, flight trackers often have to fill in some of the gaps in the data from government sources, gate times, for example. There are other variables to consider. There is typically, but not always, a message sent to an air traffic control centre on departure. In the cases where that message is not sent, a flight tracker needs to make a best guess about the actual departure time. The same goes for arrival times. The methods that the various flight trackers use to guess vary - causing discrepancies in information provided by different flight tracker tools.

Our coverage of global flights is the best in the industry. We track more commercial passenger flights than anyone in the world. In addition to our complete coverage of North American flights, we cover flights operating in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and just about everywhere else. Our coverage varies from continent to continent. But we are continually seeking data sources to help us fill in the gaps. Our coverage spans the globe and we show you more in-depth information than anyone.

Yes. All you have to do is register with FlightStats and fill in your notification preferences in your profile. Once you've done that, you can receive notices by email or text message to a PC or mobile device. We'll notify you if anything changes and when the flight arrives.

Flight status tools are available on airlines' websites, at airports and other websites show the flight's published departure and arrival time, as well as the estimated or actual times. Most, but not all, flight status tools show gate times not runway times. Some tools like ours will show you both the gate times and the runway times. On arrivals, the runway time is the time the plane touches down on the runway. The arrival gate time includes the time it takes to taxi to the gate. On departures, the gate time is the time at which the plane pulls back from the gate. The runway time for departures is the time at which it takes off and includes the time it takes for the plane to make its way from the gate through the queue of planes waiting to take off.

Yes. Click the "By Airport" tab. Type in the airport code if you know it. If not, type in the city name and select the airport code from the drop-down box. Select the date and the time period for the flights you want to see, and hit "Go". You'll be able to scroll through an entire list of arriving flights. If you see a flight you want to track, click on the flight number for detailed status information. For flights that haven't yet departed or are en route, you can click on the cell phone or email icons to schedule alerts.

Yes. Select the "By Route" tab. Type in the airport names or codes for the departure and arrival airports, specify the date you want to use for the search, and select "Go". You'll see a list of all flights on that date for connecting those two airports. If you see a flight you want to track, click on the flight number for detailed status information. For flights that haven't yet departed or are en route, you can click on the cell phone or email icons to schedule alerts.

When you view the flight status detail screen, under the arrival information, you'll see the flight's on-time performance percentage, its average delay, and its overall FlightStats rating (five stars is best).

More often than not, we can give you both the departure gate and the arrival gate for a flight. Both data points are open to change due to airport traffic conditions. So you should check back often or schedule an alert to let you know if the gate information has changed.